Lanes Apart
by CandyCoupe
Summary: Everyone has to start somewhere, and the tuners Boost, DJ, Wingo and Snot Rod are no exception. Each of the four friends share a very different childhood to one another - but that didn't stop fate from bringing them together.
1. Best of Friends

_A whole new fanfic, found while I was digging through my old computer stuff O This is the first bit. I think I'll definitely continue with this one. Enjoy!_

Dominic and Adrian were inseparable. Everywhere they went, these two were constantly – no, _always_ – cemented together like bricks in a wall, whether it was the park, the playground, the sandpit, whatever.

The kindergarten headmistress had a little moan about it on Parent/Teacher Evening. "There's just no pulling them apart. Dominic's performance in work and play is always cut off by distractions from Adrian – making him always want to do something utterly different and original from the current activity."

But Mrs Parker merely smiled. "Well, then I'm proud of my little DJ."

Dominic's mother was right to be proud; the strong friendship between the two little boys seemed to help balance their priorities and skills out. Dominic would help the smaller and more timid Adrian to be more confident in some activities, whilst Adrian could gently push along the boisterous Dominic in quiet working, especially Art. Dominic often became frustrated when he tried to draw or paint. Adrian, being an exceptionally good artist at the tender age of four and a half, would teach his best friend how to hold the paint brush right and how to blend colours.

"I wish I was a great drawer like you, Adrian," Dominic sighed one day as they sat together in the corner at an Art easel.

His crossbreed friend smiled and nudged him playfully. "Sometimes I wish I were good at music like you, instead of drawing."

Like Adrian, Dominic also had his superior talents at that very young kindergarten stage. Already the little Scion could play simple tunes on a recorder, was experimenting with the ukulele, and was learning how to play the piano for the very first time. This was how he had earned his musical nickname DJ, given to him by his loving and supportive parents.

"He gets it from his mother's strong rims, don't ya, Deej?" said Mr Parker as he gave his son a friendly rub on the roof.

"Oh Rick, I'm not THAT good at the piano," Mrs Parker would then giggle back, and the Parkers would cuddle up together like biscuits in a packet. Often DJ's older sister Caroline would deem herself as 'too busy' to join in the cuddle, but other times the almost-teenager Legnum would give in and jump into the pile of hatchbacks and station-wagons that made up this Parker family.

Adrian, however, had his own reasons for being so lonesome and quiet. His own family was similar to DJ's, with two parents and an older sibling – but he often didn't feel loved, or nowhere _near_ as much as DJ was. Adrian belonged to a fairly wealthy family where they had everything they needed, but his parents Mr and Mrs Kochi would argue over money, love affairs and their own children.

"Don't worry about it, little bro. They always make up in the morning," Adrian's older brother, Sabre, would always say to him each night.

Sabre (whose original name was Samuel, yet he much preferred his own nickname) was right about this – except their parents would continue fighting, even after making up numerous times. Sabre did his best to look after and reassure the little Adrian, but the Civic/Silvia crossbreed still didn't feel secure. So he sometimes would run away from home, to the Parker residence – where DJ lived, and where he felt truly safe. He needed his best friend. They were almost like brothers.

Adrian was so relieved to be attending the same primary school as DJ the following year. The two of them stood together outside the front gate of Wingnut City Primary on their first day, clutching tyres and staring up in wonder at the numerous buildings. This place seemed like a whole wide galaxy compared to kindergarten.

"What if we don't fit in, Deej?" Adrian whispered nervously to the Scion.

DJ smiled at him. "Well if we don't, then it won't matter, because we'll always have each other, right? Relax; this place could be even _better_ than kindergarten." With that, he confidently led his best friend through the gates.

And that was only the beginning of the tuners' eventful lives.

_Tell me what you think so far, your input is appreciated. :)_


	2. School is Tough

_Second chappy, which is a rather boring filler! ...I got stuck midway. But then it worked out soooo, here it is._

* * *

"Good morning, class!" the teacher announced, her tone bright and on at least five different pitches throughout the whole sentence. "My name is Miss Burrows," she spoke as s-l-o-w-l-y and as oh-so-sweetly as possible, somehow managing to keep a permanent smile plastered on her face all the while.

Quite frankly, it scared Adrian. She reminded him of some freakish, insane clown that had chased him in a nightmare once. Doing the best he could to not look at Miss Burrows and her lipsticky grin, he decided to look at DJ instead, who appeared to be very bored and fidgety. Adrian automatically had a feeling that the Scion was going to start chattering away to some other random kid at any moment (something that Adrian himself could _never_ do).

"Now when I call your name, you may please reply with, 'good morning, Miss Burrows'," the teacher went on in the same oh-I'm-so-happy-and-I-love-you-all tone. She then withdrew a clipboard with the class roll on it, and began to call each child's name in turn.

No sooner had she reached 'Carlson, Matthew', when she sharply looked up in midsentence. "Who is that, talking when I am talking?" (Her voice didn't seem so honey-drenched anymore.)

All of the kids remained silent, except for little DJ, who declared loudly: "That was me, Miss Burrows. I was talking to her." He pointed at the perplexed Honda Accord sitting next to him.

Miss Burrows looked DJ over for a moment, and then leaned forward, her awful false smile returning. "And what's your name?"

"DJ."

"No, I mean your _real_ name."

"It's DJ!" he repeated firmly. "My parents and my friends and my grandma all call me DJ, Miss Burrows."

The teacher's smile twitched slightly as she glanced back to the roll. Upon realizing what his real name actually was, she looked up and cooed, "Well, _Dominic_, the first rule you should learn at school is to never, ever talk when the teacher is talking."

"Miss Burrows," DJ said seriously, standing up on his brand-new school tyres and looking at her right in the eye, "my name is _DJ_."

"And don't answer back, either!" Miss Burrows replied curtly. "Sit down at once, Dominic."

"It's DJ!" the Scion shot back, annoyed. "Dee-JAY! Are you _deaf_?"

Another twitch of the lips, and then the teacher drew herself up to her full height, glaring down at him. "Go and sit in the corner!" she snapped, pointing.

"Miss Burrows," a small voice piped up, "he didn't do anything wrong."

She paused, looking startled, and stared at tiny Adrian, who gazed right back at her. "If he wants to be called DJ then that's what you should call him," the crossbreed said, standing his ground next to his best friend.

"And who might you be?" Miss Burrows questioned, as if she had never seen him before.

"M… my name is Adrian."

Before Miss Burrows could reply, a podgy Chevrolet pointed his tyre at Adrian and said loudly, "What's that thing sticking out of his butt?" The other children, aside from DJ, had never seen a car their age with such a high spoiler. It almost rose past the level of his roof.

"I… I was born with it," he stuttered, trying to keep his voice confident.

The Chevrolet grinned and turned to the class. "Adrian's got a ladderbutt!"

The kids instantly burst into screaming laughter, forgetting about the incident with DJ. As a bad-tempered Miss Burrows tried to calm them all down at once, poor Adrian felt his windshield begin to swim with hot tears – he had never been made fun of before, and he hadn't even had a chance to make friends with anyone. The little Civic turned and sped out of the classroom, crying.

He drove his way down the corridor and didn't stop. _This isn't the place for me,_ his mind whimpered. _I don't belong in this big place with all these nasty people…_ He reached the end of the corridor, nudged the door open with his bumper and wandered outside. It was completely empty, and silent except for the faint whooshing sound of cars driving past on the road outside.

Adrian had been gazing solemnly up at the road through the bars of the school gates for barely a minute, when the familiar sound of a Scion engine echoed through the playground. It drew steadily closer, and then it came right up next to him. Adrian silently glanced at the figure out of the corner of his eye.

"Adrian?" DJ mumbled. "Are you okay?"

For a moment the little Civic didn't answer. And then he said in a voice even tinier than himself, "I wanna go home."

"Oh… okay." DJ gently took hold of his best friend's tyre.

Adrian blinked up at him. "Our moms told us to stick together, didn't they?"

"Yeah, and that's what we're doing," DJ said firmly. "Sticking together."

"But we're not supposed to be out of school…"

"Yeah, well, Miss Burrows can kiss my big fat—"

"What're you kids doing out here?" The two friends jolted in surprise and turned around, engines grumbling. The owner of the voice, a shabby '68 Mercury Cougar, blinked back at them and said, "You two look like an odd couple."

Adrian nervously gripped tighter onto DJ's tyre. DJ asked the Cougar who he was. The Cougar chuckled a little and replied, "I'm Mr Swanson. I'm guessin' you guys are new here, right?"

"That's right, and we don't really like it so far," DJ answered.

"Well," Mr Swanson said, "I found school hard to settle into as well. Much bigger than kindergarten, and not everybody is nice. But just make the right friends, pay attention, have fun and you'll be fine."

"I'm not having fun," Adrian mumbled.

The Mercury looked down at him with kind blue eyes. "You can have fun with anything if you find a way to enjoy it. Now then…" He looked at DJ. "What class are you guys in?"

"Miss Clownface—I mean, Miss Burrows'."

Mr Swanson gave his throaty chuckle again. "Don't worry, she creeps me out too. Now you boys had better get back to class. It would be a real shame to miss your first day." The old car smiled a little, then turned his wheels and started heading back to his own classroom.

"I guess he's probably right," murmured DJ. "C'mon, Adrian. I'll make sure they won't bother you again." He then started driving, gently tugging the Civic along. Adrian obediently followed him, and the two boys made their way back to class tyre in tyre, without another word exchanged between them.

_aawwwww. No they are not gay. If it was a slash pairing I would have said so in the description :x Comments?_


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